News and Tribune v. City of New Albany

Case Number: 22D03-2609-PL-001752

Court: Floyd Superior Court 3

Client: News and Tribune

Background: In May 2024, 14-year-old Andre “AJ” Edwards, Jr. drowned at the Providence Mill low-head dam in New Albany, Indiana, which led to increased calls for the dam’s removal due to safety concerns. Even prior to Edwards’s death, the dam had been the subject of community controversy over its safety, leading to multiple administrative appeals and lawsuits at the state and local level since 2021. The removal of the dam eventually began in January 2026 following a settlement in a lawsuit between the city and the Department of Natural Resources.

Shortly after Edwards’s death, News and Tribune journalist Brooke McAfee filed a public records request with the city of New Albany seeking documents detailing how much taxpayer money the city spent on litigation and other legal proceedings concerning the dam.

Over the next two years, the city failed to turn over any responsive records, despite repeated follow-ups from McAfee and the newspaper’s two separate complaints filed with the Office of the Public Access Counselor, the second of which resulted in an August 2026 opinion concluding that the city violated Indiana’s public records law and that it must release the requested records.

To date, the city still has not released any records.

On behalf of the News and Tribune, Reporters Committee’s Indiana-based attorney Kris Cundiff filed this lawsuit alleging that the city unlawfully delayed and denied access to the records. The lawsuit asks the court to find, as the PAC did, that the city violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act and to order the city to turn over all responsive documents. 

Quote: “The media has a responsibility to hold government accountable to its citizens,” said Bill Hanson, publisher of the News and Tribune. “The News and Tribune has taken every reasonable step to do that with the City of New Albany in this case. It’s the peoples’ right to know how government spends their money. They deserve to know and should expect their elected leaders to honor that right.”

Filings:

2026-09-30: Complaint